Indomie "Mi goreng"

Brand: Indomie
Flavour: Mi goreng
Format: brick-in-packet
Packets: four
Identifiables: noodle brick, soy sauce, onion oil, flavour powder, chili powder
Sodium: 0.84 grams

I mentioned a short time back that Pat McK. sent me a whole boxful of instant noodles. Today, I finally opened up the most well-known and anticipated of those... the "Mi goreng" flavour. The picture on the wrapper shows brownish noodles with a variety of vegetables, a couple prawns, and a fried egg on top... but only the brown noodles are within. Also, be aware that the packaging proudly declares not merely that the dish is halal, but that there are four seasoning sachets within. Consider for a moment the implications of this last part. First, who uses the word "sachet" anymore? Second, four of them? Anybody who's read Watership Down knows that this is the highest number that bunnies can count, so we're really pushing some limits here.

I examined these four sachets. It turns out that they come in grafted Siamese-twin-like pairs. One has the seasoning oil, "minyak bumbu", which is a disturbing blend of pale yellow fluid, murky brown sediment, and little white flakes as one might feed to fish. Next to that is "kecap / soya sauce" which turns out to be the thicker sort, rather like salty chocolate sauce. The shird sachet is called "bumbu sauce", but contains white powder which smelled a bit garlicky. Adjacent to that was the final packet, the chili powder, labelled "cabe". The yellow line art on that is inexplicable; a mutant chef with a small pumpkin for one shoulder snapping invisible fingers at a chili half again his height. I think they're doing a dance number.

I boiled four hundred millilitres of water as directed, all the time wondering who a number was even specified if I'd just have to drain the stuff afterwards anyhow. In a bowl (the instructions say plate, but really, that's absurd) I mixed the full contents of the four sachets – they were, by the way, rather easy to open, even if getting all the sediment out of the seasoning oil packet was troublesome. The noodles cooked in three minutes, and drained easily. I stirred the mess together, snapped a photo, and then thought to myself, "Self, normally we type while eating. Why not simply eat now and type afterwards?" The delightful scent of the oniony ramen had gotten to me, and I could contain my hunger no more!

The noodles are reasonably sturdy, but the best far is the flavour. Oniony, garlicky, and with a fried flavour that I couldn't stop eating. Pat suggested that the previously reviewed Mi goreng might actually have the edge on taste, and I'm inclined to agree, but that doesn't count this one out by any means. The effort to make it is certainly worth it, and I find myself incredibly tempted to open the second packet and make it a large lunch.

Final verdict? If you can't find that other stuff, then stock up on this.

Numbers: packaging 4, preparation 2, heat 3, flavour 5, overall 5
Music: David Byrne - Sounds of True Stories - Freeway Son